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Dateline: 18th January, 2011
£1m for Y Touring Y Touring has been awarded almost £1m by the Wellcome Trust to support a five-year theatrical project on biomedical research and its implications for human health.
The Strategic Award will be used by Y Touring, now celebrating its 21st year, to develop and produce one new Theatre of Debate® project annually for five years. Each project will explore and stimulate conversation on a different facet of biomedical research and its effects on individuals and society, through the use of theatre, debate and digital media. Y Touring Theatre Company is an operation of Central YMCA, the UK's leading activity for health charity.
Original theatrical productions will be toured to schools around the UK and be streamed live to cinemas throughout the country. The project will create a national network of schools with access to extensive educational resources, facilitate a community of students engaged in part through digital media and encourage debate about the impact of biomedical research on society among young people and adult audiences. Nigel Townsend, Executive Director of Y Touring, said, "We are thrilled to have received this Strategic Award. The fast pace of scientific advances is having an increasing impact on human health. This project gives us a chance to bring together scientists, young people, artists and teachers to explore these vital issues."
The project, costing £1.6 million in total, will start in April 2011. The first year of work will focus on pharmacogenetics, the science of ‘tailoring’ medicines to best fit with individuals’ genetic make-up. This will be conducted in partnership with Valerie McKelvey-Martin, Head of Engagement at the School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Ulster.
Clare Matterson, Director of Medical Humanities and Engagement at the Wellcome Trust, said, "We hope that this Strategic Award will enable Y Touring to build on its excellent track-record of promoting public understanding of and engagement with science through drama. Over the past 21 years, the company has shown consistently the unique role that drama can play in enabling audiences to reflect on both the science and its ethical and societal implications too by portraying authentic situations within which are embedded essential ethical and moral issues for debate."
Please note that all three Archive indices are very long and will therefore take some time to download.
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